cough up
Britishverb
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informal to surrender (money, information, etc), esp reluctantly
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(tr) to bring into the mouth or eject (phlegm, food, etc) by coughing
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Hand over or relinquish, especially money; pay up. For example, It's time the delinquent members coughed up their dues . [ Slang ; late 1800s]
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Confess or divulge, as in Pretty soon she'd cough up the whole story about last night . This idiom transfers the act of vomiting to telling the entire truth. [ Slang ; late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As demand persists, some wealthy travelers are deciding a luxury seat isn’t sufficient to justify the crowds and flight delays that can come with commercial travel and choose to cough up thousands to fly private.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 2026
To secure membership, nations are expected to cough up $1 billion in dues.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
But Mr. Dylan expects us to cough up nothing but a dime for the jukebox.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
"I will cough up whatever I need to," says Prof Smith.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025
My mom thumped me on the back as I leaned forward to cough up a lung into my napkin.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
